A Robbinsville man charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl exercised poor judgment in not sending the girl away, but did nothing criminal, his attorney told a jury during closing arguments today.

The prosecution contends Darren Maglione, 41, engaged in sexual conduct with the girl on several occasions between May and November 2009. Jury deliberations are expected to begin tomorrow in the case.

Maglione’s attorney, Robin Lord, said the girl made up the allegations because she was in love with Maglione.

“She writes in her diary, I don’t know if you remember that, that she’s addicted and obsessed with him,” Lord told the jury. “It might be poor judgment by Darren to not send her away when this addicted and obsessed 12-year-old shows up, but it’s not criminal.”

Maglione is charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

He also is charged with computer theft for allegedly installing a spyware program on a computer he gave the girl to track her communications.

West Windsor Police

Lt. Robert Garofalo testified last week that the program was hidden on the computer and could only be accessed by typing a special code. “It’s designed for individuals who are being spied on to not know they’re being spied on,” Garofalo said of the program.

Lord said that because the computer used to belong to Maglione, it’s possible that his wife installed the spyware program to track his movements.

The spyware program appeared to be set up to e-mail the girl’s activity to an e-mail address registered to Maglione, Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said. Because Maglione gave the computer to the girl as a gift, he should be held responsible for the program.

“When you gift a computer to someone, you’re not allowed to spy on them,” McCauley said.